American West Metals (ASX:AW1)

Investment Memo:

American West Metals (ASX:AW1)

- LIVE

Opened: 16-Oct-2025

Shares Held at Open: 14,722,222

Options Held at Open: 7,361,111

What does AW1 do?

American West Metals (ASX:AW1) owns a portfolio of critical minerals projects including:

Indium in Utah, USA - AW1 owns 100% of the biggest indium deposit in the USA.
Copper in Canada - AW1 owns 80% of an advanced copper project in northern Canada.

What is the macro theme?

Critical minerals and US-based projects are attracting attention and capital.

Trump is now looking to adopt pandemic-era level urgency to boost critical minerals production in the US.

With Trump signing Executive Orders to encourage US domestic critical metals production, fast track permitting and providing funding for mining projects private interest and capital has followed into the sector.

AW1 has exposure to:

Indium - a US listed critical mineral essential for semiconductors, touchscreens, and advanced defence technologies.
Gallium/germanium - both are also on the US critical minerals list and are essential for semiconductors and the military industrial supply chain.
Copper - a cornerstone metal for electrification, renewable energy infrastructure, and the EV supply chain.

Our Big Bet for AW1

“AW1 receives capital from either the US government, a strategic partner or the capital markets to progress its Indium project in the USA, re-rating AW1 to a valuation that is multiples of our Initial Entry Price”

NOTE: our “Big Bet” is what we HOPE the ultimate success scenario looks like for this particular Investment over the long term (3+ years). There is no guarantee that our Big Bet will ever come true. There is a lot of work to be done, many risks involved, including development risk, country risk and commodity price risk - just some of which we list in our AW1 Investment Memo.

Success will require a significant amount of luck. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance.

Why did we invest in AW1?

AW1 has the biggest indium (critical mineral) resource in the USA

AW1 owns 100% of the West Desert Deposit in Utah - one of the biggest indium resources in the world and the single BIGGEST indium resource in the US...

Indium is listed as one of the 12 strategic defence critical minerals in the US

The Pentagon explicitly mentioned indium as one of the minerals it is looking to buy up as part of its stockpiling strategy. The only option to bring into production domestic supply would be AW1’s project.

China dominates global supply and has placed export restrictions on indium

~70% of the world’s refined indium comes out of China and earlier in the year indium was one of the five critical minerals that China put export restrictions on.

The US has no domestic production and is 100% reliant on imports for indium

at the moment there is no domestic production of indium in the US. 100% of US demand is satisfied with imports...

AW1’s deposit could get bigger, only 35% of deposits’ drill cores assayed for indium so far

AW1’s project is a polymetallic deposit meaning it also has zinc, copper, silver and gold which were the focus of previous drilling. At the moment only 35% of the project’s old drillcore has been tested for indium, so the deposit could get bigger with more assay results.

AW1’s deposit might also have Gallium/Germanium potential

Gallium and germanium are other critical metals used in semiconductors. AW1 intercepts from its 2022 drill program found gallium and germanium. At the moment, only 10% of the drilling data on the project has been assayed for gallium or germanium.

Capital is flowing into US critical metals macro thematic

The US government through its different agencies is allocating billions of dollars to the critical minerals sector. More recently JP Morgan also announced it would put to work US$1.5 trillion in industries that are “critical to the U.S national interest”.

AW1 can follow the “US market listing playbook”

there is a playbook for ASX stocks to attract more attention and capital to projects that are based in the US. AW1 isn’t yet listed in the US and we think that if its project gets any traction it could go for a US listing that opens up the project to North American investors.

We are backing John Prineas here

we Invested in John’s other company St George Mining (ASX: SGQ) and it has been one of our best performers this year, up 560% from our Initial Entry Price. John has managed to capture US critical minerals macro momentum with SGQ’s rare earths asset. We are hoping AW1 is able to repeat SGQ’s success.

AW1 hasn’t yet run like most other US critical Minerals stocks

most juniors who pick up exploration ground in the US are trading at market caps in the $20-30M range. We think that AW1 should trade at a premium to these companies given its indium asset is at a relatively advanced stage and the biggest in the USA.

We think AW1’s copper asset more than underpins it’s current valuation

The company’s copper asset in Canada has had a Preliminary Economic Assessment done on it showing an after tax Net Present Value (NPV) for the project of US$149M. AW1 already has binding commitments for offtake and development financing for this project too.

What do we expect AW1 to deliver?

Objective #1: Drilling at the US indium project

We want to see AW1 drill its indium project to really test the projects exploration upside (including other metals like gallium). Ultimately, we think some exploration will revive market interest in the project.

Milestones

not done Drilling starts

not done Drilling results

not done Assay results for gallium/germanium

Objective #2: US government or strategic funding for the US indium asset

We want to see AW1 lock in either government or strategic funding for its US indium asset.

Milestones

not done US government fast-tracking permitting

not done Non-dilutive US critical minerals funding opportunity applications

not done Strategic funding partnership

Objective #3: Pre-feasibility study and permitting for the Canadian copper project

We want to see AW1 deliver a pre-feasibility study and key permits related to developing the project.

Milestones

not done Pre Feasibility Study

not done Environmental Studies

not done Mining/development permits

Objective #4: Exploration drilling at the Canadian copper project

We want to see AW1 drill out its regional targets and hopefully add to the projects existing JORC resource.

Milestones

not done Geophysics/Geochemistry work

in-progress Drilling starts

in-progress Drilling results

not done JORC resource upgrade

What could go wrong?

Niche commodity price risk

We completely acknowledge that this AW1 has exposure to a very niche commodity (indium) were the market isn’t as big as more mature commodities like gold or oil. This means prices for the commodity can go up or down a lot. If the price was to fall then it would negatively impact AW1’s share price

Development/processing risk

AW1’s indium resource sits inside a polymetalic deposit. These deposits can sometimes be difficult to process and recover valuable minerals from. There is no guarantee that AW1 will be able to recover any of the critical minerals in the deposit economically. We will need to see the company complete metallurgical testing before this risk is addressed.

Permitting Risk

AW1 will need to get permitting in order for its Canadian copper project. If this permit is delayed or rejected it may be a drag on the AW1 share price.

AW1: “Unsolicited approaches” from US government and US investors [12-Nov-2025]

Funding risk/dilution risk

As a pre-revenue small cap company, AW1 is reliant on capital markets to advance its projects. If something negative happens at a macro or company level, AW1 could struggle to access capital on favourable terms.

These capital raises may take place at a discount, and result in the issuance of new shares which incur dilution to existing shareholders.

Market risk

Broader market sentiment could deteriorate, and shares as an investment class trade lower, taking AW1’s share price with it. Alternatively, there could be further sector specific pain ahead where junior explorers suffer a lot more than the broader market.

Critical Minerals Macro risk

A big part of our Investment is related to critical minerals macro sentiment strengthening and resulting in a funding deal for AW1’s US indium project. IF macro sentiment was to turn, then the chances of that asset being funded/brought online would reduce significantly. This could mean a re-rate lower in AW1’s share price.

AW1: “Unsolicited approaches” from US government and US investors [12-Nov-2025]

Other risks

Like any small cap exploration company, investing in AW1 involves a range of risks, some known, some unknown (this is the nature of investing in early-stage companies).

Here we aim to identify a few more risks.

AW1’s indium project, while large and strategically located in the US, is still at the pre-development stage. There is a risk the project does not progress to production or that feasibility studies show weaker-than-expected economics.

The indium market itself is small, opaque, and subject to significant price swings. Limited transparency around pricing and supply chains could impact project valuation and investor sentiment.

Although AW1’s US project is fully permitted for an open-pit mine, the company will still need to secure ancillary approvals for development and production. Any delays or regulatory changes could push timelines back.

There is also the risk that AW1 is unable to attract US government or strategic funding despite being well-positioned in the critical minerals thematic.

On the copper side, AW1’s Canadian project may face operational or permitting challenges due to its remote location and environmental regulations.

AW1 remains reliant on capital markets to fund project development. Future equity raisings could dilute existing shareholders, while debt funding may not be available on favourable terms.

Finally, broader macro conditions, such as a downturn in commodity prices or waning investor appetite for critical minerals could impact AW1’s ability to raise funds or achieve its development goals.

Investors should consider these risks carefully and seek professional advice tailored to their personal circumstances before investing.

What is our investment plan?

We are Invested in AW1 to see it progress its project into development.

Our plan is to hold the majority of our position in AW1 for 3 to 5 years which we hope is enough time to see AW1 to move towards development (see “our long term bet” above).

After 12 months we will apply our standard de-risking strategy.

We may also look to sell up to 20% of our holding if the company delivers on one or more of our Investment Memo objectives and/or the share price materially re-rates.

Any sell downs will be in accordance with our trading and hold policy disclosure.

Disclosure: Disclosure: S3 Consortium Pty Ltd (the Company) and Associated Entities own 14,722,222 AW1 Shares and 7,361,111 AW1 Options at the time of publishing this Investment Memo. The Company has been engaged by AW1 to share our commentary on the progress of our Investment in AW1 over time. This information is general in nature about a speculative investment and does not constitute personal advice. It does not consider your objectives, financial situation, or needs.